The present invention pertains in general to a process for producing garments or individual parts from top fabric cuts and, in particular, to produce lining cuts which are attached to top fabric cuts on processing machines, especially by bonding the lining cuts to the top fabric. The invention relates as well to a device for carrying out the process.
The top fabric cuts and--if applicable--the lining cuts and the units produced from top fabric cuts and lining cuts, shall hereinafter be called bonded units for simplicity's sake. Correct assignment of the bonded unit is of great significance during the industrial production of large lots of garments.
The top fabric cuts and the lining cuts are usually fed in separate stacks or bundles to the processing machines. Usually each bundle of cuts is provided with a merchandise list containing the order number and the number of cut parts (cuts) as the minimum amount of data. Merchandise list of the bundle must be lost, when the cuts are taken out or singled at the processing machines, if not earlier, each cut of one bundle is provided in advance with at least the order number of the merchandise list and its part serial number, which is determined by the number of cuts present in the bundle. This numbering is performed by hand using appropriate aids. The bundles of cuts are turned one by one and each cut in the bundle is numbered one by one. This separation and the assignment at the processing machines, especially the bonding devices, are carried out manually. Consequently, the cuts are moved or taken up by hand at least twice between the operations of cutting and bonding.
Another operation is necessary if the cuts are to be provided with so-called stitch marks for automated processes.
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,621,801 that a sewing station equipped with a sewing machine can be provided with a numbering system by which a bundle number and a part serial number are stamped on the topmost cut of a bundle lying on the sewing table plate. After each stamping, the operator removes the cut thus marked from the bundle, along with the topmost cut of a second bundle, lays the two cuts one on top of another, and sews them together by means of the sewing machine. The cut units identified by the bundle number and the part serial number can be attached to other cut units as intended in subsequent sewing stations.
Even though this numbering system offers the advantage that the cuts are no longer numbered by hand but automatically, it is still necessary to tie a band around every individual bundle after cutting and to provide it with a tag which contains the data needed for the subsequent assignment of individual parts. This measure is to ensure that the assignment of the bundled cuts is maintained during the transportation of the bundles from the cutting shop to the sewing shop.
Cutting devices which cut the cuts of a garment out of a web of top fabric spread out in one layer only, have become known more recently (U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,412 and West German Offenlegungsschrift No. DE-OS 33,15,990). In this procedure, only the cuts which are needed for producing a single garment or an individual part thereof are prepared. Subdivision of the bundle and separation of the individual parts from each other, which are necessary in the above-mentioned process, thus become unnecessary. The cuts thus produced for one garment or one individual part thereof are subsequently taken up from the cutting table and fed to a sewing station. The individual parts, which may be picked up in pairs, can be caught by hand or by a manipulator.
However, it is necessary to provide the cuts or prepared bonding units with marks of the aforementioned type in this case as well in order to control the further processing with them.
On the whole, the following procedure is stated as the state of the art:
a) one or several layers of top fabric are laid out (with a laying machine),
b) the cuts are cut out of the top fabric layer(s) with a cutting machine,
c) the individual cuts are marked, and
d) the marked cuts are fed to the further processing machines, e.g., a bonding device.